Disability Type and Preferential Hierarchy in Civil Negligence Cases

This study investigates whether different disability types influence legal decision-making processes in civil negligence cases under a pure contributory negligence system. Building on Tringo's (1970) hierarchical preference framework and Harris's (2019) analysis of ableist biases in legal systems, we examine whether a preferential hierarchy exists among disability types, systematically affecting jury verdicts, negligence determinations, fault allocation, and damage assessments. Our primary objective is to determine if mobility disabilities, chronic illness disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and sensory disabilities receive differential treatment in mock jury evaluations. Additionally, we examine whether group deliberation influences individual case evaluation judgments, whether such effects vary systematically across disability type conditions, and whether participants' own disability status and prior acquaintance with persons with disabilities moderate their legal judgments.